Your Favourite Line or Verse from a song and why?

Steve_o · 28-05-2008 4:42pm

No1XtinaFan wrote: »

Haha! True!! But I really do feel it was!!!!
I'm sure you've listened to a song and thought wow, that's exactly what I'm feeling right now!
Although maybe I'm just a weirdo:p

I guess Tom Waits' songs have done that once or twice alright... he's a genius!!

niallon · 11-06-2008 9:30pm

"And I've lost my St. Christopher
Now that I've kissed her"

Tom Traubert's Blues - Tom Waits

Definitely my favourite single line, says so much using so little

Also:

"Well they built the Titanic to be one of a kind
But many ships have ruled the sea
They built the Eiffel Tower to stand alone
But they could build another if they please
The Mona Lisa, The David, The Sistine Chapel
Are unique I suppose
But when they built you brother
They broke the mould

...they say you can't take it with you, but I think that they're wrong
Cause all I know's I woke up this morning, and something big was gone"

Terry's Song - Bruce Springsteen

Straightforward enough for a eulogy track I suppose but at the time (last year) that the album was released I had just recently had a friend pass away and I guess it rang through particularly with me as a result. It was great to have a ready to go track there at my disposal I guess!

TelePaul · 15-06-2008 9:08pm

niallon wrote: »

Also:

"Well they built the Titanic to be one of a kind
But many ships have ruled the sea
They built the Eiffel Tower to stand alone
But they could build another if they please
The Mona Lisa, The David, The Sistine Chapel
Are unique I suppose
But when they built you brother
They broke the mould

...they say you can't take it with you, but I think that they're wrong
Cause all I know's I woke up this morning, and something big was gone"

Terry's Song - Bruce Springsteen

Straightforward enough for a eulogy track I suppose but at the time (last year) that the album was released I had just recently had a friend pass away and I guess it rang through particularly with me as a result. It was great to have a ready to go track there at my disposal I guess!

I agree, wonderful track.

cautioner · 21-06-2008 10:47pm

At the moment I'm in love with Modest Mouse- Issac Brock is a ridiculously talented lyricist imo.

For example, the simple line
"The universe is shaped exactly like the Earth,
If you go straight along enough you'll end up where you were" -3rd Planet
somehow blows my mind every time. It just seems like such a strange, but accurate, observation to make. Maybe it's the way he sings it too. I don't know.

And on a more depressing note, Jimmy Eat World's Jim Adkins never fails to hit me right in the emotions:

"I felt for sure last night,
That once we said goodbye...
No one else will know these lonely dreams,
No one else will know that part of me.
I'm still driving away,
And I'm sorry every day.

I won't always love...these selfish things.
I won't always live....not ...stopping...

I won't always love, what I'll never have.
I won't always live, in my regrets.

You'll sit alone forever if you wait for the right time,
What are you hoping for?
I'm here, and now, I'm ready,
Holding on tight.
Don't give away the end...the one thing that stays mine" - 23
It's so simultaneously bitter and hopeful that I can't help but love it.

Kid V · 23-06-2008 7:34pm

I've been listening to a lot of Bon Iver recently. He is a really talented songwriter.

The wolves (act 1 and 2) is the song i keep coming back to particularly for these verses

"someday my pain, someday my pain
will mark you
harness your blame, harness your blame
and walk through"

"and the storys all over you
in the morning i'll call you
cant you find a clue when your eyes are all painted sinatra blue"

He's the shiz:)

t-mobile1892 · 23-06-2008 8:49pm

"Did they get you to trade
Your heroes for ghosts
Hot ashes for trees
Hot air for a cool breeze
Cold comfort for change
Did you exchange
A walk-on part in the war
For a lead role in a cage"

-Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd

Caked Karen · 28-06-2008 2:37am

Great Thread

love the whole song of "All I know" by Art Garfunkel
"I bruise you, you bruise me
we both bruise to easily
to easily to let it show
i love you and thats all i know"

"when the singers gone, let this song go on
its a fine line between the darkness and the dawn
they say the darkest night, is a night beyond
but the ending always comes at last
endings always come too fast
they come to fast and they pass too slow
i love you and thats all i know"

- also honky tonk - the stones
"I met a gin soaked, bar-room queen in memphis,
She tried to take me upstairs for a ride.
She had to heave me right across her shoulder
cause I just cant seem to drink you off my mind"

- finally "where the stars go blue" by gavin mcgraw

"dancing where the stars going blue, dancing where the evening feel
dancing in my wooden shoes, in a wedding gown"

i could post for a week here

IanCurtis · 28-06-2008 2:51am

I was delayed, I was way-laid
An emergency stop
I smelt the last ten seconds of life
I crashed down on the crossbar
And the pain was enough to make
A shy, bald, buddhist reflect
And plan a mass murder
Who said lied I'd to her ?

Morrissey is up there with the greatest songwriters....always a touch of humour in amongst the despair

molloyjh · 04-07-2008 12:37pm

Do you find it there in the sea of faces
That drowns you every day
In the silence and rumble and empty spaces
Where children and rotweillers play
Is it buried in the praise given so cheap
In the meaningless movement of the jaws
In the looking glass that flatters you
Or the rattle of hollow applause.....
......And I'm thinking 'bout the bullet and the TV screen
The dollar and the clenched fist
And if we're searching for peace how come we still believe
In hatred as the catalyst.......
......And I feel it in the pit of my stomach and in the ditch in my mind
Inside the chamers of my heart as I stare half blind
At these walls of cardboard
At this space that I have rented
At your beauty that is crumbling
Though you try so hard to prevent it

David Gray - Let the Truth Sting - reflects modern society so well

But freedom, oh freedom, well thats just some people talking

Eagles - Desperado - delivered perfectly & so true

Can I look down to you as you look down on me
Can I feel into you as you felt into me
I can help what you see, I can't help but to be
For what I needed to need

Smashing Pumpkins - Love - one of my all time favourite songs about unrequieted love. Love the first line of it too: To my mistakes, to my mistakes of cowardice

kryogen · 04-07-2008 1:26pm

The road is dark
And it's a thin thin line
But I want you to know I'll walk it for you any time
Maybe your other boyfriends
Couldn't pass the test
Well if you're rough and ready for love
Honey I'm tougher than the rest

Bruce Springsteen, Tougher then the Rest. love the song, always makes me think about the other half, yes i am a sad soppy bastard at heart haha

This is our last embrace,
must I dream and always see your face
Why can't we overcome this war
Baby, maybe it is just because I didn't know you at all

Jeff Buckley, Last Goodbye. again, i just love the whole song but i figured its too long to write everything!

all the stars · 04-07-2008 1:35pm

"Tell me what it is you want,
i've nothing left to give,
You've taken everything i loved
And cursed me here to live.

But, all that i can think of,
Is the good things we've done.
Even though my love was blind
I see who you've become ...."

Walk away - track written by me. (c)

molloyjh · 04-07-2008 2:08pm

kryogen wrote: »

This is our last embrace,
must I dream and always see your face
Why can't we overcome this war
Baby, maybe it is just because I didn't know you at all

Jeff Buckley, Last Goodbye. again, i just love the whole song but i figured its too long to write everything!

+1 on Jeff Buckley.....

Kiss me, please kiss me
Kiss me out of desire babe and not consolation
Oh you know it makes me so angry cos I know that in time
I'll only make you cry
This is our last goodbye

Loved his version of Hallelujah too and his own Lover You Should've Come Over. That entire song is genius.

humberklog · 04-07-2008 5:01pm

I saw Adam leave the garden with an apple in his hand.
I said 'now you're out what you gonna do?'
Plant some crops and prey for rain, maybe raise a little cane.
I'm an orphan now and I'm only passing through.

L.Cohen/Phil Blakey.

tinkletoes · 15-07-2008 1:30am

Hey hey, my my- I think it's an inspiring song and reminds me of my dad who is a great inspiration to me:)

It's better to burn out than to fade away
My my, hey hey

rumplestiltskin · 15-07-2008 11:20pm

And as we wind on down the road
Our shadows taller than our soul
There walks a lady we all know
Who shines white light and wants to show
How everything still turns to gold
And if you listen very hard
The tune will come to you at last
When all are one and one is all
To be a rock and not to roll

Led Zeppelin Stairway to Heaven

stick-dan · 20-07-2008 1:39am

My favourite ever is from an artist who has just actually hit the charts in Ireland well to my knowledge anyway he has been famous in america for quite a while now.

It is Jason Mraz - I'm Your's

So i won't hesitate no more,no more.
It cannot wait i'm sure.
There's no need to complicate.
Our time is short,
This is our fate, i'm yours.

Dar93ragh · 06-11-2012 7:43pm

Bob Dylan - Things Have Changed.

''Lot of water under the bridge, lot of other stuff too.
Don't get up gentlemen, I'm only passing through''.

This song is amazing , but these lines just hit me .

10-11-2012 10:02pm

Joe Tex - Ain't Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)

"Ain't gonna bump no more with no big fat woman"

Sublime!

trashcan · 11-11-2012 12:15am

SxE Punk wrote: »

Pretty much anything by Billy Bragg

[/I]

Partial to a bit of BB myself. This has always been may favourite of his:

She danced with me and I still hold that memory soft and sweet
And I stare up at her window, as I walk down her street
But I never made the first team, I just made the first team laugh
And she never came to the phone, she was always in the bath

Brilliant.

Emz93 · 20-11-2012 6:51pm

"Everything dies baby that's a fact, maybe everything that dies, someday comes back"

Bruce Springsteen - Atlantic City

"Maybe I just wanna fly, wanna live I don't wanna die, maybe I just wanna breathe, maybe I just don't believe"

"Maybe I will never be, all the things that I wanna be, now is not the time to cry, now's the time to find out why"

Oasis - Live Forever

I will most likely post more, I have a lot of lyrics I love..don't know why I like them in particular, they just click with me I guess.

dave3004 · 21-11-2012 5:31am

When you try your best but you don't succeed,
When you get what you want but not what you need,
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep.
Stuck in reverse.
Lights will guide you home and ignite your bones and I will try and fix you.

TheBegotten · 21-11-2012 11:03pm

Struck a Nerve - Bad Religion

There's an old man on a city bus
Holding a candy cane
And it isn't even christmas
He see's a note in the obituary
That his last friend has died

Prayer of The Refugee - Rise Against

We are the angry and the desperate,
The hungry, and the cold,
We are the ones who kept quiet,
And always did what we were told.

But we’ve been sweating while you slept so calm,
In the safety of your home.
We’ve been pulling out the nails that hold up
Everything you’ve known.

I'm a sucker for hardcore

Ledger · 22-11-2012 3:50pm

Tomorrow never knows what it doesn't know too soon....

Morning Glory - Oasis

I just love Noel's writing style. Lots of his lyrics have a deeper meaning than some other similar bands of the time.

reap-a-rat · 25-11-2012 8:28pm

"Now that I've tried bein' everyone's friend
only to find I mean nothin' to them
but I've givin' it up on wantin' to fit in"

What Do You See - Mick Flannery

"It’s a restless hungry feeling
That don’t mean no one no good
When ev’rything I’m a-sayin’
You can say it just as good.
You’re right from your side
I’m right from mine
We’re both just one too many mornings
An’ a thousand miles behind"

One Too Many Mornings - Bob Dylan

Dar93ragh · 03-12-2012 7:06pm

'' Lady Come into my room, i'll pretend i'm sleeping half an eye on you.
The slow, you take off you're clothes. You knew I was watching said how'd you like the show.''
Mick Flannery - California

mistermatthew · 12-12-2012 1:35am

"And you could have it all,
My empire of dirt"

I love this verse and these lines in particular. The jonny cash cover IMO has such depth of feeling. The line makes me feel the pain that only an old man can no, the summation of his life as little more than an empire of dirt.

And that voice, with age, incomparable.
Sometimes covers are just special.

Haunting.

Casinoking · 20-12-2012 2:21am

Lot's of favourite lyrics, but for a one-liner it has to be "life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans"

DMBandit · 20-12-2012 2:23pm

John Mayer: Stop This Train

"Had a talk with my old man
Said help me understand
He said turn 68, you'll renegotiate
Don't stop this train
Don't for a minute change the place you're in
Don't think I couldn't ever understand
I tried my hand
John, honestly we'll never stop this train"

kirb42 · 01-01-2013 1:43am

Soft Cell Say Hello Wave Goodbye....

Standing in the door of the Pink Flamingo
Crying in the rain
It was a kind of so so love
And I'm going to make sure it never
Happens again
You and I
It had to be
The standing joke of the year
You were a sleep around
A lost and found
And not for me I fear....

The Stoles · 07-01-2013 3:46pm

"Don't waste your time or time will waste you" by Muse

Best one-liner i've ever heard..

sbsquarepants · 08-01-2013 5:08pm

Barefoot girl sitting on the hood of dodge, drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain - Bruce Springsteen - Jungleland (1975)

Outstandingly brilliant song - There is rarely a day goes by that an image of that barefoot girl doesn't just randomnly pop into my head!

trashcan · 08-01-2013 9:29pm

Just reminded of this song this morning when it popped up on random play on my ipod - Pack of Lies by Cathal Coughlan/Fatima Mansions. Savage, brutal and brilliant lyrics, culminating in this:

The moral of this story is this lands a victim farm, don't you ever feed a begger here, he'll eat your ****ing arm" Delivered with appropriate venom too.

Steve_o · 04-06-2013 9:25am

"Pray for the people inside your head, cause they wont be there when you're dead" - Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit. Its a great line, very true too!!

music producer · 10-06-2013 2:11am

Just when I'd stopped opening doors,
Finally knowing the one that I wanted was yours.
Making my entrance again with my usual flair
Sure of my lines...
No one is there.

Judy Collins

jobeenfitz · 10-06-2013 2:46am

"All we are is dust in the wind" cos its so fcukn true. By kansas.

and "go away from my window, in your own chosen time" Bob Dylan, cos I think it is a lovely way of sayine "fcuk off" politely.

unreggd · 11-06-2013 12:20am

Carrie Underwood - So Small

time's flying by
moving so fast
you better make it count 'cause you can't get it back

Life is short. Make it count!

[On a creepy note, this song just came on as I'm typing...]

11-06-2013 4:49pm

Agadoo-doo-doo, push pineapple, shake the tree
Agadoo-doo-doo, push pineapple, grind coffee
To the left, to the right, jump up and down and to the knees
Come and dance every night, sing with the hula melody

Superb

music producer · 12-06-2013 2:56pm

I could make a career of being blue
I could dress in black and read Camus
smoke clove cigarettes and drink vermouth like I was 17
that would be a scream but I don't want to get over you
— Stephin Merritt

thelostone12 · 13-06-2013 12:12am

I wanna be a diver into the sea
Beyond my walk, going over me
A dangerous world, set me free
Oh I wanna be a climber in liquidity
The hardest world hanging over me
The fear of the cold, set me free
Set me free-Alunageorge

I know these aint lines but its word wizardry

JustAThought · 13-06-2013 12:36am

Is it Nights or Knights?

Nights in White Satin
never reaching the end
Letters I've written
Never Meaning to send
...
Just what the truth is
I don't know anymore..
Buuuut I love you
Yes I love you , oh how I
LouuuvughLove lyou

(Moody Blues)

IrishGrimReaper · 13-06-2013 4:53am

There's so many great lines I can think of. But if I had to pick it would be this.

Stevie Ray Vaughan - Life Without You

Life without you....
All the love you passed my way
The angels have waited for so long....
Now they have their way
Take your place....

Pints? · 13-06-2013 11:06pm

If I could only turn back the clocks to when God and Her were born,
"Come in", she said "I'll give you shelter from the storm".

Bob Dylan - Shelter from the storm

Dylan just pours his heart and soul into this whole album.

music producer · 17-06-2013 9:01pm

"All lies and jest, still, a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest"

Simon & Garfunkel

MaxWig · 20-06-2013 1:41pm

I like a girl in satin, Who talks dirty in Latin
A girl who's flirty, When she quotes Krishnamurti
If she likes to be goosed
While reciting from Proust
I'll know she's my kind of creature
Among her delectables,
Her intellectables
Must be her sexiest feature

I've got The Hots For The Smarts
The Hots For The Smarts
IQ off the charts
Give me brains over hearts
I've got The Hots For The Smarts

Richard Thompson - Hots for the Smarts
(A true genius)

Rad! · 21-06-2013 5:24pm

cocorosie lyrics from The Moon Asked The Crow

I caught a glimpse out the window
a Polish graveyard filled with widows.
I coddle a bottle of warm beer,
I see a pool of liquid tears
Glimmering so sweet and mellow,
A sea of lilting wilting willow,
A secret book of forgotten wishes
Drawn in ponds with broken dishes

(The moon asked the crow for a little show/ In the hazy milk of twilight, no-one had to know)

Man I wish I could write something like that. A lot of the stuff they write must have started out as poetry I reckon.

jobeenfitz · 21-06-2013 9:34pm

Now don't hang on
Nothin' last forever but the earth and sky
It slips away
And all your money won't another minute buy

Dust in the wind by Kansas

ruthloss · 21-06-2013 9:54pm

Something inside so strong.
Sung by Labi Siffre

The higher you build your barriers
The taller I become
The farther you take my rights away
The faster I will run
You can deny me
You can decide to turn your face away
No matter, cos there’s

Something inside so strong
I know that I can make it
Though you’re doing me wrong, so wrong
You thought that my pride was gone
Oh no, there's something inside so strong
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
Something inside so strong

The more you refuse to hear my voice
The louder I will sing
You hide behind walls of Jericho
Your lies will come tumbling
Deny my place in time
You squander wealth that’s mine
My light will shine so brightly
It will blind you
because there’s

Something inside so strong
I know that I can make it
Though you’re doing me wrong, so wrong
You thought that my pride was gone
Oh no, there's something inside so strong
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
Something inside so strong

Brothers and sisters
When they insist we’re just not good enough
Well we know better
Just look ‘em in the eyes and say
We're gonna do it anyway
We're gonna do it anyway
There's

Something inside so strong
And I know that I can make it
Though you’re doing me wrong, so wrong
You thought that my pride was gone
Oh no, there's something inside so strong
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
Something inside so strong

Brothers and sisters
When they insist we’re just not good enough
Well we know better
Just look ‘em in the eyes and say
We're gonna do it anyway
We're gonna do it anyway
We're gonna do it anyway
We're gonna do it anyway
Because there’s

Something inside so strong
I know that I can make it
Though you’re doing me wrong, so wrong
You thought that my pride was gone
Oh no, there's something inside so strong

There's something inside so strong
I know that I can make it
Though you’re doing me wrong, so wrong
You thought that my pride was gone
Oh no, there's something inside so strong
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
Something inside so strong
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
Something inside so strong
Oh oh oh oh
Something inside so strong
___

periodictable · 25-07-2013 1:47am

Now I see you standing
With brown leaves falling around
And snow in your hair
Now you're smiling out the window
Of that crummy hotel
Over Washington Square
Our breath comes out white clouds
Mingles and hangs in the air
Speaking strictly for me
We both could have died then and there

Joan Baez "Diamonds and Rust"

28-07-2013 12:13pm

Rad! wrote: »

cocorosie lyrics from The Moon Asked The Crow

I caught a glimpse out the window
a Polish graveyard filled with widows.
I coddle a bottle of warm beer,
I see a pool of liquid tears
Glimmering so sweet and mellow,
A sea of lilting wilting willow,
A secret book of forgotten wishes
Drawn in ponds with broken dishes

(The moon asked the crow for a little show/ In the hazy milk of twilight, no-one had to know)

Man I wish I could write something like that. A lot of the stuff they write must have started out as poetry I reckon.

You could easily have written something like that when you were about 12, you just had to the good sense not to.

'Drawn in ponds with broken dishes'...
....give me strength!

lizad2009 · 05-08-2013 12:31am

I love this idea! It may make people wince that I picked my favourite line from a Bon Iver/Justin Vernon song, but mainstream/cult musician whatever you want to call him, the man writes great songs.

"And at once I knew I was not magnificent..."

I just think despite the fact this quote is only 9 words long, it almost captures our lifes, searching and searching for wealth, happiness, beauty and the inevitable sudden realisation that we are...not as magnificent as we had hoped and ours dreams and successes are as valuable and comparable to everyone elses.

Your Favourite Line or Verse from a song and why?

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